
BJD MP Baijayant Panda was hit by an egg during a clash between his supporters and other party workers in Mahanga area of Cuttack district on Tuesday. The Kendrapara MP had gone to Jatiparilo village to inaugurate a drinking water project. The clash erupted after the inauguration, with party workers throwing eggs and stones at each other. BJD sources alleged that supporters of Health Minister Pratap Jena engineered the clash because the MLA was not invited for the inauguration.
Panda had tweeted on Monday, “Mahanga vandals trying to stop project inauguration tomorrow. I will be there.”
After the clash, the MP told reporters, “The BJD had a policy of resisting hooliganism and infighting. But in the last three years, things have changed. Some babus have started deciding party activities, leading to indiscipline.”
Panda was recently removed as BJD spokesperson after he wrote articles calling for introspection following the
BJD’s poor performance in panchayat polls in February. Reacting to the incident, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Attack on an MP while he is inaugurating a welfare project is not an example of a healthy democracy.”
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